Daily Picture Grade 5 - Day 9

Today she rode to school on her own! I guess we'll know if she made it when she comes home from school.

"See ya later!"

Daily Picture Grade 5 - Day 8

Shoes. The 5-minute warning initiated a flurry of activity in finding shoes to wear. She decided her Converse were stinky and the spray she put it seemed to not do the job. She didn't want to wear her good tennis shoes, so she went upstairs and found the grungiest shoes she owned. I told her that it was not good to wear such bad looking shoes when she had a better option, the good tennis shoes. But she refused! When pressed, she finally said "They pinch!". Goodness. I have been making her wear shoes that pinch in the name of them being the good pair. When do kids learn to just tell their parents that kind of detail? Did she tell me and I ignored it? Hmmm, not the best communication I guess. Anyway, I convinced her that with the spray and clean pair of socks, her Converse would be fine. She was not in agreement, but had no options and not time. We were the last student to cross the street today. Good thing we were on bikes!

"Peddling in my Stinky Shoes"

The remains of the Stinky Shoe Story

Anyway, it's Thursday and Tom is in the air on the way to Chicago. He is bringing his sick body home for repair. He had a nasty case of tonsillitis and now the medicine caused sores inside and outside of his mouth. Safe travels hubby!

Daily Picture Grade 5 - Day 7

Another bike day. She's less cautious, that's good. The bike lock is probably NOT necessary, but it would totally freak her out if she came out and her bike was gone. Leading to yet another reason why I am leaning towards getting her a mobile phone...  I know, all of us grew up without a need for one, right? If our bike was stolen, we went and told someone. And perhaps at this school, someone would actually care. Tom and I will both be at work and I worry about her going to study or work on a project. Anyway, we'll see what happens next week.

"Combo Mambo"

Daily Picture Grade 5 - Day 6

Today we rode bikes to school. Preparing Natalie for next week when she will have to get to school on her own. She doesn't have to be at school until 8:30 and I start week on Tuesday. But we celebrated the fact that our breakfast area is generally devoid of furniture and practiced skateboarding!

"We should get rid of those chairs so I can put in a ramp!"

Daily Picture Grade 5 - Day 5

Second week of school already. Today, the plan was that Natalie would walk to school on her own. She made it as far as that door. Then she said "What do I do if a stranger is on the sidewalk?" My first inclination was to tell her to punch them and run. Then I realized a stranger could be a neighbor walking their dog and that punching them was probably a bad idea. So I walked her two blocks to where she could see the crossing guard. I did catch her looking back at me a couple of times. At first I thought it was sweet that she was not grown up enough to walk on her own. But within minutes I was pushing her out of the nest stating "You are fine to walk by yourself. Nothing will happen and you know what to do if something did." So this is what parenting is, right? Finding the balance between independence and support. Holding back the breaks in your resolve to raise a confident child until you are in front of your blog. Just proves that your children continue to challenge and amaze you even when they can cook their own soup and get all the shampoo out of their own hair. And in the end, they know when they can fly!

“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them” --  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Daily Picture Grade 5 - Day 4

One week under our belts. And Gammaw and Pappaw came to visit this week. Good to have breakies with Pappaw before school!

"Breakfast with my buddy!"

Daily Picture Grade 5 - Day 3

Thursday already. Talked to Tom last night, he is in Shanghai, and he has severe tonsillitis! Poor man! But he got to a western doctor and he has been loaded up with antibiotics so he should be back on his feet by Sunday. In fact, he is actually in Beijing and is travelling back to Shanghai Thursday afternoon. Make that past-tense. Being on the other side of the 12-hour time difference is harder I think. Anyway, he is sick in China so he missed the Day Three Panic. The old "was I supposed to do 1-2 and 1-3 or just 1-2?" issue. Only the second day of homework so Natalie is out of practice. So, 10 minutes of hand-wringing resulted in her deciding to do 1-3 so this was our first day of homework in the morning. I guess it is good to get that milestone out of the way early.

"Let the sun shine on me! All year please!"

Daily Picture - Day 1 and Day 2

Unbelievable. How different our lives are, but how much the same. We are in a new house but surrounded by things we accumulated in China (literally surrounded in some rooms). Natalie has a new school, but if feels similar to Concordia. Tom is in Beijing this week, so even that seems the same. But some changes are rippling through our lives. I will be back at work full-time in less than two weeks. Natalie will be walking and riding her bike to school by herself as soon as she tires of being escorted by her mom. Our shoe cabinet only has one pair of fake converse in them now. 

All in all, we are so happy to be back in the U.S. There are moments I awake and wonder where I am, but that happens less and less. I do miss my friends. But then I realize I have friends here too and perhaps now we have the best of both world!

So, we think we will do the daily picture again this year. We will see how that works out with the mornings. These first two days I have captured on my mobile (which takes great pics, so that is ok). Yesterday I caught her from behind following a Woman in fatigues walking her son to school. (lots of Air Force personnel in our community). Today I got her right before she ditched me ("Not all the way to gate Mom!). Life is good.
Day 1

"Let the sun shine"

Day 2

"This is far enough Mom"